Aurelian

Also known as

• Lucius Domitius Aurelianus

Profile

Roman soldier-emperor who reigned from September 270 until his death in 275. Married to Ulpia Severina. During his reign the Empire was reunited in its entirety. His successes started the end of the empire’s Crisis of the Third Century. Aurelian strengthened the position of the Sun god, Sol or Oriens, as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon, intending to have a single god that all the peoples of the Empire could worship alongside their own local gods. The center of the cult was a new temple built in 271 in Campus Agrippae in Rome, financed by the spoils of war. While he does not appear to have organized persecutions of other religions, he was certainly willing to kill those, such as Christians, whose faith kept them from going along with his sun-worship plan.

Born

• 214 or 215 in Sirmium (modern Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia)

Died

• murdered in September or October 275 at Caenophrurium, Thrace

Martyred by Aurelian

• Martyrs of Rome
• Saint Abachum of Persia
• Saint Agapitus the Martyr
• Saint Athenodorus of Neo-Caesarea
• Saint Audifax of Persia
• Saint Basilides of Rome
• Saint Bonosa of Porto
• Saint Claudius of Troyes
• Saint Columba of Sens
• Saint Eutropius of Porto
• Saint Jucundinus of Troyes
• Saint Julia of Troyes
• Saint Justus of Troyes
• Saint Mandal of Rome
• Saint Philomenus of Ancyra
• Saint Sabas the Goth of Rome
• Saint Tripos of Rome
• Saint Zosima of Porto

MLA Citation

• “Aurelian”. New Catholic Dictionary. Saints.SQPN.com. 27 January 2011. Web. 19 June 2013. <http://saints.sqpn.com/aurelian/>